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Saturday, March 30, 2013

And with his final breath, he cried out from the cross, 'It is finished!' Jesus the Christ was a great Man. They mocked him as the son of God, but all he claimed was a kinship to Man. 'The Son of Man,' he said. That is the difference between gods and men - gods do not murder their children. They do not exterminate themselves.Those who remember him travel this world over teaching peace and love. For this they suffer murder and torture and they incite great wars in his name, many bloody events even worse than what you have just seen.Human-kind cannot learn peace until we are drenched in violence. You have to disgust ourselves beyond all anger and fear until we can learn that neither extortion nor exhortation moves a god. Then you need something to which you can cling. All this takes a long time. It is a difficult lesson.The real lesson of worShip Is to find your own humanity and live up to it.Lessons from 'The Jesus Incident' by Frank Herbert Paraphrased from pages 150 - 151.

Monday, March 18, 2013

With each sunrise there is hope that we to will rise above any battle, or trial, or problem, or obstacle that we may face.As the sun sets, we know the same sun will surely rise and there is hope that we too have been given a new day to rise. Life doesn't end when the sun sets.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Why pretend to
be tame when your soul is screaming from your head that it wants to be free. It wants to come out of every confinement
including our skulls that keep our minds confined when in fact our minds live
free. We are not what’s
in here but mostly what we see. How we
see things and what’s out there.

Life has no
borders and no boundaries READ IT observe it live it.

Free yourself
from man-made restrictions rules borders and boundaries limits and laws. Go ahead and
let the child within live. Let the mind
be in the best state to live life to the fullest to understand that there is
something bigger than the standards humans have set.

The supernatural,
the crazy, the powerful mind -- let it bring you to nirvana. Let it bring you closer to you, closer to
others, and closer to god, and closer to the spiritual mind, the non-religious,
non-prejudiced non-hateful, and the non-jealous.

These things
are enemies of the mind and are other forms of bondage of the mind.

Monday, March 4, 2013

T
he year 2012 came and went, the elections are over and the
Zombie Apocalypse, or worse, the fiscal cliff still haunts us. In one of the last films of the year,
Hollywood deemed it necessary to give us a lesson in choices to open our
holiday season. If you are looking for a
review of the new Denzel Washington ('Man on Fire,' "The Book of Eli" film,
I'll give you that and a bit more. For
openers, the MPAA rates this film ‘R' for a very good reason, this film is
about a man whose moral compass is swinging somewhat out of control, like a
plane without pitch control. As just
about everyone I know who talks about film has mentioned, this is director
Robert Zemeckis's first live action film since 'Castaway' starring Tom Hanks
back in 2000. In the meantime, director Zemeckis
has been working with some top animators to pull off films like 'The Polar
Express.’ 'Beowulf and 2009’s ‘A
Christmas Carol.' "Flight" is written by
John Gatins (Real Steel 2011), and gives us a character study of a man who
makes choices, that when seen by other characters in the film and the audience
themselves, are clearly unwise, if not just downright wrong. The character of Whip Whittaker is able to
swagger away from his wrecks as if he blessed by some divine being. ‘Flight’ is a study of hubris.

I am absolutely sure that the executives at Paramount have
no reason to think that today's audience is looking for a moral lesson in
choice and responsibility. I am sure
that they were looking for a film that would just make them millions of dollars
taken directly from the moviegoers pockets.
However, 'Flight' is more than about money or greed; it is about pride,
choices, and consequences. Denzel plays
probably one of the coolest characters in film today. In 'The Book of Eli,' he was the humble
servant of the Divine who, like the prophets of old wandered for many years on
a spiritual journey to deliver the word of God to a place where that word can
be heard by many. In 'Man on Fire’, he
is the tormented ex-CIA assassin out to redeem himself of the many sins of his
past. Washington's character pulls this
off by sacrificing himself to save a young Dakota Fanning. Probably the closest Denzel has come to the
character of Captain 'Whip' Whitaker was that of Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel
Serling in ‘Courage Under Fire' back in 1996 with Meg Ryan. The difference is obvious but subtle. In 'Flight' Denzel is Captain 'Whip'
Whittaker, the coolest (did I mention that before?), drunkest, highest S.O.B.
that ever flew a commercial airplane. John
Goodman (who has been in just about everything) plays his too-hip-for-you
'friend/supplier/demon' and Bruce Greenwood (Start Trek - 2009) and Don Cheadle
('Iron Man 2,' 'Hotel Rwanda') play the team who are there to keep Washington's
ass out of the fire. Most people who
come to see films like 'Flight' come because they saw the trailer where Denzel
flies the airplane upside down. Needless
to say, what takes place in the remaining hour after the flight is just as
riveting, The action is toned down, however, the acting, editing, and
characters jump into high gear as we see how Whittaker, deals with the
aftermath, his demons, and the NTSB inquiry into the days leading up to the
crash.

Honnestly, Robert Zemeckis is obvious as he gives us musical
cues to each character as they step onto the screen. In some cases, one may wonder if he is a bit too
condescending toward his audience, or, does he just want to make sure he gets
his point across about the character. Our
antihero, Captain William 'Whip' Whitaker's thematic cue is 'Feelin' Alright'
by Dave Mason from the time he was in Traffic, and sung by Joe Cocker. The song not only plays well when Capt.
Whitaker's swaggers into the cockpit after a night of partying with stewardess,
Trina Marquez (Nadine Velazquez). The
lyrics hint at a man who is trapped and has a need to escape, and that man is
Whitaker, and guess whom he needs to escape from? Our captain has alcohol for breakfast and a
coke chaser (read cocaine) to even himself out.
Arriving at the plane on a cold wet morning, he meets his co-pilot, Ken
Evans played by Brian Geraghty ('The Hurt Locker,' 'Jarhead') as your typical
Southern Baptist type Holy Roller. Evans
is clean cut and is put off by Whitaker's morning wake up routine of coffee,
aspirin, and hits of oxygen. Now for
those of us who went through our twenties living our life on the edge -- this
sounds perfectly normal. People like
this thrive on this type of lifestyle, they put on their shades and swagger
into work and don't think twice about it - except that these people don't have
102 lives in their hands.

Actor/writer John Gatins ('Coach Carter,' 'Real Steel') has
two storylines going during the first act.
The first, of course belongs to Whip and his adventures in the sky, the
second belongs to Nicole (Kelly Reilly).
Nicole seems like your typical anorexic, tattooed, needle scarred,
heroin addict. Reilly's plays Nicole
almost perfect in the sense, that she too like, Whip is trapped in a life
filled with choices that are dragging her down.
We follow Nicole as she tracks down her next heroine score. What Zemeckis shows us, is the stereotypical
girl from the wrong side of the tracks who has some sense of morality. Nicole, while begging for a hit of Heroine
flatly turns down being in a porn film.
Nicole is messed up, but has some sense of morality. While Nicole is shooting up some high-grade
Afghanistan heroine, the Cowboy Junkies are heard in the background singing
'Sweet Jane.’ What Gatins and Zemeckis
try to show us are two characters that are fated by their choices, and perhaps
by a higher power to meet. This is one
of those scenes where Robert Zemeckis makes it painfully obvious as he shows the
paramedics who are wheeling the overdosed Nicole out her apartment in a gurney
as they, along with Nicole’s sleazy apartment manager take a second to look up
into the sky to see Whitaker's plane is flying upside down. In many ways, Robert Zemeckis spoon-feeds his
audience details that are obvious to the most clueless viewer. I find that insulting, however, because of
the pace of the film, and the journey Whip, Nicole, and the audience are
quickly taking, I will forgive the director for this.

Although Washington's Whitaker makes his own choices, he is
not alone in making them. 'Flight' gives
us several excellent, but brief, performance from John Goodman, as Whip's over
the top drug dealer. As Goodman's
character -- Harling Mays -- saunters into the hospital telling the nurses that
'he is on list' while listening to, The Rolling Stone's 1968 classic 'Sympathy
for the Devil.' This song too, is very
appropriate, because, like the devil, Mays doesn't cause Whitaker to make bad
choices. However, like Old Nick himself,
he is there to ensure that those dark choices are made. Goodman, in his several short appearances,
also provides in this otherwise serious film, a touch of comedic relief. What we find in 'Flight,' is a closer look at
what we a moviegoers, and how filmmakers tend to gloss over - the aftermath of
disaster. I don't know how many main
characters in the history of filmmaking have causes so much destruction in a
film, and because they are the 'hero,' of the film, they walk away scot-free. Think ‘Die Hard.’

Haling Mays is not Whitaker’s only enabler. Bruce Greenwood serves as the pilot’s union
representative, Charlie Anderson. Anderson informs Whitaker upon regaining
consciousness in the hospital that essentially he has his back covered. In entering into this relationship with Whip,
he too enters the world as a co-conspirator in Denzel’s descent into deception. Enter Don Cheadle as the lawyer brought in to
get Whip out of the potential prison sentence for flying while impaired.

While watching this film other flight disaster films also
come to mind, such as ‘Alive,’ ‘Castaway,’ ‘Flight of the Phoenix, ‘Passengers,’
‘Final Destination,’ etc. where the passengers struggle with trying to survive
after the crash. The difference here is
that the person struggling to survive is the pilot himself. There are many scenes where there is no
action but intense conversations between, Greenwood, Washington and Cheadle volleying
back and forth about right and wrong and Denzel always declaring himself the
winner because he save 96 people out of 102.
Most people in today’s society would see Captain Whip Whitaker’s point
of view, and there lies the problem. In
today’s society, being right seems to come down to a matter of opinion, and we
root for Whip as he lies to himself. We
feel bored and annoyed as Whip attends an AA meeting with Nicole and has to
listen to a guy talk about how he is an alcoholic. We don’t care, we don’t want to hear him, we
want to focus on how the hell Whip is going to stay out of jail. Whip leaves the meeting with a look of
annoyance on his face, goes off, and does what he always does… drinks to
excess. As William Blake said, “The road
of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”
For Whitaker, the road is a bumpy one.

Robert Zemeckis paces his film, giving us equal amounts of
fast pace action with moments of thoughtful introspection, giving the audience
a moment to reflect on Washington’s performance, and his choices. The scenes are crisp, to the point and while
giving the audience that moment to breathe and allow them to ask the question: Would I have done that?

For the most part, ‘Flight’ is peppered by Rock and Roll
classics like the ones already mentioned but also including another Rolling
Stones hit ‘Gimme Shelter,’ Bill Withers’ ‘Ain't No Sunshine,’ Marvin Gaye;s "What's
Going On," and trying to sum it all up with Johnny Lee Hooker’s blues classic, ‘Never Get Out of These Blues Alive.’ The music is blatant but helpful in setting
the tone of the scene and describes the mood accurately. Or maybe, too accurately.

My favorite scene comes near the end of the film when
Whitaker is found in a hotel suite passed out and hung over right before he is
supposed to testify at a NTSB hearing. A
hearing that Don Cheadle’s character has gone through enormous effort in trying
to prepare both the NTSB head investigator and Whitaker himself into steering
the board into declaring the whole tragedy an ‘Act of God.’ What Cheadle and Greenwood come up is insane, wrong,
and very funny. Denzel’s performance
during the hearing is worth watching as you see a man who is totally struggling
with his conscience, his integrity, his demons, and the truth. Flight is worth watching, if not for the
story, but for Denzel Washington’s performance.
Like a man with both a devil and an angel on his shoulder, he tries to
ignore both and go his own way only finding that he cannot serve two masters. ‘Flight’ is a little over an hour and a half,
and is a great film to rent or own.

About Me

I like movies. I studied film during my school years before moving on to a long career in the Information Technology Industry. I believe that not every movie is for everybody, however, I believe that if you know what the good, the bad, and the ugly of the cinematic arts, you can decide for yourself what to watch. I am but a guide.